1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an article stacking system or assembly and, more particularly, to a device for stacking, bundling or packaging products, and for discharging the product package from the stacking and packaging system wherein the stacking and packaging system that can be quickly and efficiently configured for use with different products or products of different sizes to accommodate different sized layers of product.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Discrete product stacking and packaging systems, conventionally referred to as, e.g., automatic case packers, bundlers, or automatic stack and package systems, are rather commonplace in various packaging industries including, e.g., paper products and particularly paper roll products such as tissue paper and paper towel. The automatic stack packagers commonly include a feed assembly in which a plurality of discrete products are arranged in a layer and fed into a stacking system or stacker. The stacker frequently includes a movable lift plate whose position is adjusted during receipt of subsequent layers so that the discrete products of each layer are stacked in an aligned manner over and/or under a corresponding product in an adjacent layer. Once stacked, the product stack is discharged from the stacking system and delivered to a carton, bundler, or other product containment/packaging system to facilitate distribution, transport, and/or consumer consumption from the multiple product containment system. Commonly, particularly with respect to roll paper products, the packaging system includes a plastic containment system that wraps or bundles a layered arrangement of paper roll product in a layer of disposable and/or recyclable plastic material that is then secured onto itself to maintain the stacked orientation of the product for further handling, distribution, and/or consumption.
Typical automatic stack systems are configured for operation with a particular arrangement and number of layers of a given product. That is, the operability of such systems is largely dependent on the size and shape of each discrete product and the size and shape of reach discrete layer. Particularly with respect to paper roll products, such stacking systems commonly include various sidewalls and/or stop plates that maintain the orientation of the various discrete products and/or layers during the stacking operation. The various sidewalls and stop plates are commonly rigidly supported by a flame assembly to maintain the desired slidable interaction between the stacker and the discrete layers of product as the product and arrangement of product is advanced through the stacker between the feed assembly and the discharge and/or packaging assembly. Such systems are commonly ill-suited to handle any more than a minimum deviation in both the arrangement of multiple products and the size and shape of the discrete products.
In an effort to improve the useable range of operation of such stacking systems, manufacturers and/or third party users provide shim, spacer plates, and/or alternate sidewalls and stop plates that manipulate the orientation of the various sidewalls and stop plates relative to a stack area. Unfortunately, such systems require significant downtime to change out the sidewalls and stop plates and, thereby, detrimentally affect stacking and packaging operation efficiencies. Accordingly, such systems detrimentally affect the ability of the user to dynamically respond to operational needs that may be unrelated to the operational integrity of the stacker and packaging system.
Although others would be inclined to provide product stacking and packaging lines useable on an intermittent basis for stacking and packaging arrangements of discrete products, substantial capital costs as well as space requirements could limit the ability of the many manufactures to utilize such an approach to mitigate the shortcomings discussed above.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an automated stacking and packaging device which can be quickly and conveniently configured for stacking and packaging layers of products that have different depths, widths, and/or heights. It would further be desirable to provide such an automated arrangement and packaging system which also positions stacks of various products for introduction into another machine. In addition, it would be desirable to provide an automated stacking and packaging system which reduces operator involvement during reconfiguration of discrete components of the stacking and packaging system during product change-over processes.